In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data traffic since the commercialization of 4G communication systems, the development focus has been on the 5th Generation (5G) or pre-5G communication system. For this reason, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is called beyond 4G network communication system or post Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. In order to accomplish high data rates, consideration is being given to implementing the 5G communication system on the millimeter Wave (mm Wave) band (e.g., 60 GHz band). In order to mitigate propagation loss and increase propagation distance, the 5G communication system is likely to accommodate various techniques such as beamforming, massive MIMO, Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming, and large scale antenna. Also, for throughput enhancement of the 5G communication system, research is being conducted on various techniques such as small cell, advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (cloud RAN), ultra-dense network, Device to Device Communication (D2D), wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, Coordinated Multi-Points (CoMP), and interference cancellation. Furthermore, the ongoing research includes the use of Hybrid FSK and QAM modulation and Sliding Window Superposition Coding (SWSC) as Advanced Coding Modulation (ACM), Filter Bank Multi Carrier (FBMC), Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA).
Meanwhile, the Internet is evolving from a human-centric communication network in which information is generated and consumed by humans to the Internet of Things (IoT) in which distributed things or components exchange and process information. The combination of cloud server-based Big data processing technology and the IoT begets Internet of Everything technology. In order to secure the sensing technology, wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure, service interface technology, and security technology required for implementing the IoT, recent research has focused on the sensor network, Machine to Machine (M2M), and Machine Type Communication technologies. In the IoT environment, it is possible to provide an intelligent Internet Technology (IT) that is capable of collecting and analyzing data generated from the connected things to create new values for human life. The IoT can be applied to various fields such as smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected car, smart grid, health care, smart appliance, and smart medical service through legacy Information Technology (IT) technology and convergence of various industries.
Thus there are various attempts to apply the IoT to the 5G communication system. For example, the sensor network, Machine to Machine (M2M), and Machine Type Communication (MTC) technologies are implemented by means of 5G communication technologies such as beamforming, MIMO, and array antenna. The application of the aforementioned cloud RAN as a big data processing technology is an example of convergence between the 5G and IoT technologies.
Meanwhile, the Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) is the smart card used in mobile terminals. The UICC may include an access control module for access to mobile communication operator networks. Examples of the access control module include a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), a Universal SIM (USIM), and an Internet Protocol (IP) multimedia service identity module (ISIM). The UICC including a USIM is called USIM card. Likewise, the UICC including an SIM is called SIM card. In the following description, the term “SIM card” is used in the meaning covering the UICC card, USIM card, and UICC including ISIM. That is, the proposed technique can be applied to all of SIM, USIM, ISIM, and other types of UICC.
The SIM card stores mobile communication subscriber information that is used for subscriber authentication and traffic security key generation in order to access to the mobile communication network for secure mobile communication.
Typically, SIM cards are manufactured on demand from mobile communication operators in an operator-specific manner. Accordingly, a SIM card is delivered in a state including authentication information (e.g., USIM application, IMSI, K value, and OPc value) for use in accessing the corresponding operator's network. The mobile communication operator delivers the SIM cards supplied by the manufacturer to the subscribers. Afterward, the mobile communication operator may manage the information in such a way of installing, updating, and deleting an application in the UICC using an Over The Air (OTA) technology. A subscriber may insert the UICC into the subscriber's mobile communication terminal for use of the corresponding mobile communication operator's network and application services; and the UICC makes it possible for the subscriber to use the authentication information, contact information, and phone book stored therein even when the subscriber changes an old mobile communication terminal for a new mobile communication terminal.
However, such a SIM card is inconvenient in that the mobile communication terminal user cannot use the services of other mobile communication operators. This means that in order to use a service provided by a certain mobile communication operator the user has to have a SIM card supplied by the corresponding mobile communication operator. For example, in order for a user traveling abroad to use the service provided by a local mobile communication operator, the user has to purchase a local SIM card. Although it may be possible to mitigate such inconvenience by subscribing to a roaming service, the roaming service is restrictive because of the expensive roaming service rate and even there may be no roaming agreement between the network operators.
If it is possible to download a SIM and install the SIM in the UICC, the above problem can be solved. In this case, the user may download anytime into the UICC a SIM corresponding to the mobile communication service in which the user is interested. It may be possible to install a plurality of downloaded SIMs into the UICC and use one of them selectively. The UICC may be fixed or detachable. Particularly, the UICC fixed in a terminal is called an embedded UICC (eUICC), and the eUICC may be configured to download a plurality of SIMs remotely for selective use thereof. In the following description, the UICCs capable of installing a plurality of SIMs downloaded remotely are generally called eUICC. That is, all the types of UICCs fixed to or detachable from a terminal that are capable of installing the SIMs downloaded remotely are generally called eUICCs. Also, the downloaded SIM information is referred to as profile or eUICC profile.